30°09′08″N85°41′28″W / 30.15222°N 85.69111°W /30.15222; -85.69111
St. Andrew Bay,[1] colloquially called"St. Andrews Bay", is a bay located inBay County in thepanhandle ofFlorida. It is a 69,000-acre estuary located in northwest Florida. It is relatively deep, and of relatively high salinity due to the low freshwater inflow provided by only a few spring-fed creeks (the most significant beingEconfina Creek, fed by Wiliford and Pitts Springs). The bay is named forSaint Andrew.Panama City, thecounty seat of Bay County, is located on the bay. TheAtlanta & St. Andrews Bay Railway, which ran from Panama City toDothan, Alabama (and still exists as a smallershort line), was also named for the bay.
St. Andrew Bay was the location of a large number ofsaltworks critical for theConfederacy during theAmerican Civil War. Edward Crissey, in command of thesteamboatUSSBloomer, which he had been instrumental in stealing from her berth nearGeneva, Alabama, helped destroy numerous salt works, doing great damage to the Confederate war effort. The shallow draft of the steamboat allowed her to go up inlets where other, deeper draft vessels had been unable to travel.[2][3]
Wilddolphin are commonly seen in the waters of St. Andrew Bay; they are easily spotted when the waters are smooth in the mornings. In shallower waters, St. Andrew Bay is known for vast schools ofmullet,redfish andspeckled trout. Occasionally amanatee is spotted in the bay as well.
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